


Don't Think Too Much

by ThunderDownOnGreenside



Series: The Many Ways to Come Together [5]
Category: Free!
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Delirium, Fainting, Introspection, M/M, MikoRin, On the short side, Overthinking, Pre-Slash, SeijuuRin, Slash, Surprise Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2014-03-14
Packaged: 2018-01-15 15:52:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1310512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThunderDownOnGreenside/pseuds/ThunderDownOnGreenside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seijuurou has many reasons to be concerned with Rin's welfare, mainly due to the kid's mental hang ups, but his forgetful training habits are apparently worth his overthinking as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Think Too Much

Rin really is something else.

 

He gets so caught up in things, so wrapped inside and twisted around all of these tiny, tiny hitches in his life, little bumps in the road that would normally take little to no skill to avoid. Rin is very skilled, very capable, very aware-

 

And yet there he goes again, tripping over something invisible and hitting the ground harder every time. It's frustrating, concerning, not to mention confusing. Even the kid's friends from Iwatobi don't seem to know.

 

_"He's very...particular? I don't know how to say it...he takes things really seriously, and his perception of problems and setbacks is wildly different from ours. I think he knows that everything could take him down, and so it does."_

 

Makoto had sounded a little sad over the phone, and Seijuurou really didn't know what to say. Even now, watching Rin slice through the water like an angry red laser beam, he still has no idea how to take those thoughts and apply them here. Rin is better than that, he's sure of it. There has to be something else involved. Why would someone with so much strength willingly torture themselves so? 

 

_"It's the anger. You don't see when you're angry. He knows it's there, he just can't see it because he's in pain."_

 

Haruka has never struck Seijuurou as a very observant individual in the past, but his blunt statement of fact paired with Makoto's speculation really solidifies the case. Of course. Rin is strong, but he's also one of those over-emotional types. He can take anything that you throw at him, over and over again - just sometimes he'll fall down and get hurt before he stands back up.

 

Like now.

 

"Matsuoka!"

 

Rin is clinging to the side of the pool, shoulders heaving with forceful breaths of exertion. What's wrong with him? Practice just started! If there's anyone who keeps going for hours on end, it's Rin, yet here he is, barely able to pull himself out of the pool.

 

"...yeah?" 

 

Come to think of it, he looks absolutely terrible. His voice is low, rubbed raw and making Seijuurou's throat ache just by the sound of it. There's no flush of activity here; Rin is ashen, lips pale and eyes unfocused. It's almost like - !

 

_Shit!_

 

The captain darts forward just fast enough to catch Rin before the younger male smacks into the tile flooring, arms braced against the sudden deadweight in his embrace.

 

"Fuck! Matsuoka! Rin! Hey buddy, can you hear me?" Rin remains unresponsive to Seijuurou's attempts at rousing him, instead gazing deliriously at him through half-shut eyes.

 

"You're kinda warm," he says instead, voice sluggish and faint. "Like a pillow..."

 

"That's great to hear." Seijuurou is a little too busy flagging down another member to focus on Rin's current state of delirium. "Can you see right now? Think straight?"

 

He gets no real answer except for a light tug on the front of his jacket; when he looks back at Rin to check in in him, he comes up face-to-face with his teammate. Literally.

 

"You think too much." Rin murmurs breathlessly, tilting his head slightly to kiss Seijuurou before promptly fainting.

 

His captain stares.

 

And stares.

 

And stares some more until he manages to get his act together, and even then, he's still in a state of shock for the rest of the evening. Someone get this guy a blanket.

 

_______________

 

Apparently Rin just needed protein, of all things. He'd been eating nothing but shit carbs for the past two days (between school and nonstop practice, carbs were easier to come by) and had thus been ignoring his body's demands for food that would sustain him through intense physical activity. That coupled with the odd heat wave passing through and Rin's unfortunate tendency to overwork himself come hell or high water had been more than enough to trigger the impromptu fainting debacle at practice. Seijuurou had given him a terrific tongue-lashing at the infirmary, and his insubordinate teammate had taken it with surprising humility; apparently even he understood the necessity of at least eating properly when working out.

 

But the whole kissing thing...

 

Rin doesn't seem to remember it (and Seijuurou doesn't know how to feel about that). He knows that Rin told him that he thinks too much - this coming from the kid who is always overcompensating and fighting with himself and just generally thinking _way too much_ \- but he's thinking anyway. 

 

Seijuurou thinks that, despite everything, he could get used to this. But the mental tripping has got to stop.

 

...the kissing doesn't have to though. He kind of liked that.


End file.
